Pride
by Marigold-Scented-Candle
Summary: these were words that he had never heard come out of her mouth. Now he knew that something was defiantly wrong with the former Hyuuga.


"J-" Horo-Horo heard a sniffle from within the bathroom that he was supposed to be cleaning for Anna.

"Just go away" He blinked. Hinata was a talkative person once she was comfortable with you, but these were words that he had never heard come out of her mouth. Now he knew that something was defiantly wrong with the former Hyuuga. But that just made his resolve to help the girl no matter what even stronger. He knocked yet again.

"Hinata-chan?"

"G-go away Horo-kun" another sniffle. Horo-Horo frowned. Hinata wasn't the type to cry over nothing. She cried only when she was extremely frustrated, or in pain.

"I'm coming in" He stated, leaving no room for argument as he opened the door and was greeted by an unusual sight. In the mirror Hinata's face was flushed, which in itself wasn't all that much out of the ordinary. What was unusual were the fat tears rolling down her rounded face. The other strange thing was her hair. He knew that Hinata prized her long hair, from what he knew, she had it short when she was little, and now that her family wasn't there to make her cut it, she wanted it as long as possible. But now it had been cut; by who Horo-Horo had no clue, but whoever they were, they were a terrible hair stylist, because the cut was uneven and choppy. The shortest strands barely brushed her shoulder, and the longest had been left mostly untouched and reached her waist. Hinata was holding the scissors to one of the longer strands in the front, but her hand was trembling.

"I thought you liked your hair"

"I d-do"

"So why'd you cut-"

"I didn't!" the scissors flew out of her hand, and embedded themselves in the wall before clattering as they hit the tile floor, she turned around. Now it was much more obvious, since they had messed up even worse in the front. Horo-Horo blinked. One side of her bangs came up to her chin, and the other side swished around at her eyebrows.

"A g-gr-group of...Of girls at school d-did" Horo-Horo frowned.

"Why would they do that? Your hair is so nice" He was careful to use the present tense, as to not imply that he didn't like her hair now, which he knew would make her even more upset, which would cause his sister to beat him up for making Hinata cry. She sniffled again.

"T-they said t-t-that since they couldn't f-f-f-fix my m-m-m-monster eyes"

"O-o-o-or the ugly t-t-tattoo on my f-f-forehead"

"O-or my u-u-u-ugly f-f-face"

"Th-they'd f-f-fix m-my ugly hair" even more tears rolled down her cheeks.

"What!" Horo-Horo narrowed his eyes, and grabbed her shoulders.

"Why would you ever say that!"

"I-I didn't"

"So you admit it's not true"

"I d-didn't say t-that either"

"So you think that you're ugly?" Hinata said nothing.

"Why would you believe a lie like that Hinata?" Hinata rubbed away more tears. Horo-Horo bent down a little, so that they were eye to eye. He put on a big smile.

"Now let's fix up your hair" He retrieved the scissors, and promptly found the shortest strand, and cut the longer lengths of hair next to it so that they were the same length. Hinata winced at every snip of the sharp implements. But other then that made no protest as her pride fell to the ground.

"There! All done!" Horo-Horo put on a big smile for the sake of the demoralized Hyuuga, who was occupying herself by picking up all the stray hair from the floor, and placing it in the garbage. He knelt down beside her, picking up more of the night colored hair. As soon as the last of hair was in the garbage Hinata started to cry even harder.

"H-Hey! D-don't cry!" He waved his arms, and him and kororo even made funny faces together, which usually made her laugh. But today, it was futile to try and make her stop until she was ready to do so on her own. Finally her tears died down into little sniffles.

"T-thanks Horo-Kun...F-for fixing m-my hair" Horo-Horo smiled widely.

"Not a problem Hinata!"

"You know... If those girls give you anymore trouble..." Hinata smiled.

"D-don't go through all the trouble. Not over stupid school girls"

"Of course not over those stupid girls" He rolled his eyes.

"Over you" Hinata blushed.

"H-Horo...kun"

"You shouldn't believe what they said about you" She smiled

"I s-shouldn't have gotten so u-upset anyways" Horo-Horo smiled. Ruffling her new shorter style affectionately.

"I-it's just...I was finally beginning to look like a Hyuuga"

"That shouldn't m-m-matter to me anymore"

"But it does. My father always kept my hair short because I was a disgrace to him"

"To him I didn't deserve my own name" Horo-Horo hugged her closely.

"That's not true"

"Hinata" he mused, still petting her head as if it was a magic lamp and if he rubbed it enough that a genie would come out and tell him the answer to whatever he was thinking about

" That means 'a sunny place' right?" She nodded.

"I think it fits perfectly!"

"You brighten up everything, even if sometimes you aren't happy"

"You're like a permanent sunny place" These compliments caused her cheeks to turn a shade that could make a strawberry jealous. He led her away from the bathroom, navigating the halls of his temporary home with ease until he came to the room that he called his own.

"H-Horo-kun?"

"Horokeu"

"Horo..keu?" He cracked yet another smile.

"My real name"

"You see, since I know what happened to your hair, I figured you should know a secret about me too"

"H-Horokeu" She let the name pass over her lips

"Horokeu-kun...Do you remember that night you first met me?" He nodded. He had found her in the middle of the woods, curled up against an old tree, shivering with fever and delirium, tears traversing her dirty face. What had he done? Taken her to his imouto of course! She was a girl after all. She would know what to do. His normally talkative little sister had only given him a sentence's worth of advice.

"_If she wakes up, do not startle her, and wake me up. You got that Nii-chan? she can sleep in between us for tonight, and tomorrow we'll bring her to Anna-san and Yoh-san. They're our enemies. But they can take care of her better. Or at least let her have a bath and a bit of tea. " _ Horo-Horo had helped his sister patch up various scratches that covered the mystery girl, and laid her under the cover's between him and his sister.

"Yup!"

"You were knocked out and injured, so I brought you to Pirika!"

"Was I a sunny person then?" Horo-Horo nodded.

"You're always going to be sunny Hinata. No matter what you loose"

"It's just like your hair. It'll keep coming back again and again. No one will ever be able to make your hair stop growing, and no one's going to keep you from being who you are" Hinata smiled and kissed him on the cheek.

"Thank you. Horokeu-kun. I-I feel a lot better"

"Y-y-you're welcome" He muttered, touching his cheek with a look that was nothing short of pure wonder. His name on her lips, the delicate curve of a pink tongue dancing, brushing against hard palate and teeth, and rhythmic sounds escaping lips that had touched his cheek, but how wanted those lips touching his lips. Dear kami, he wanted that girl to love him.


End file.
